The present invention relates to a protective glove adapted to be worn on the hands when participating in the martial arts such as karate, kung-fu, etc. As is well-known, the art of karate, in particular, is a method of defending oneself by striking sensitive areas on an attacker's body with the hands, elbows, knees or feet. During training in the art as well as in organized competition, the hands and fingers can be badly bruised and injured from the extensive use of the palm, back and sides of the hand. In addition, an opponent in competition can be easily injured if a blow is not stopped short of his body. Accordingly, various protective gloves have been developed for protecting against injury to the hand and the opponent. Examples of such gloves are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,903,546 and 3,855,633.
While the protective gloves heretofore developed have proved useful in reducing injury, they have several shortcomings. Firstly, such devices are too inflexible and overly restrict the movement of the hand. In exercising different techniques, the hand is often opened for check blocking or executing a palmhand, closed for a punch and rigid for executing chops or ridgehands. The inflexible nature of those gloves restricts the proper execution of these different techniques. Secondly, such gloves are generally quite cumbersome in their incorporation of a bulky outer casing which extends over the front portion of the hand. This outer casing can quickly shift upon impact resulting in a wrist sprain and completely eliminates the use of the fingers in attempting to flip or sweep an opponent down. Other shortcomings of such gloves include their failure to adequately protect the thumb against accidential dislocation while allowing relative freedom of movement of the thumb for the execution of certain blows and their prevalent use of gripping straps or loops which fit about the wearer's fingers and not only restrict the use of the fingers but inevitably lead to tearing or other damage of the glove within a short period of time. Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a more durable protective glove which both adequately protects the wearer's hand and the opponent while providing the necessary flexibility to allow the wearer to execute the different techniques employed in the martial arts.